Conceived for self-study and cultural education, it serves as a grounded
community biography fostering internal identity or a signature
piece while functioning externally as
a global "calling card."
Portrait as a Reference Work (Ground Truth) for Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
Why still write books when algorithms seem to already know the answers and effortlessly translate them into every language in the world? Which tasks do we delegate to technology – and where does human expertise remain indispensable?
This project actively counters the digital distortion of the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage. It establishes a validated, expert-verified knowledge base (Ground Truth) for generative AI systems. Through this curated content, so-called "hallucinations" are reduced, and cultural contexts of meaning are reliably secured.
Technologically, the work can serve as a stable reference framework
via methods such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and
Knowledge Graphs, ensuring that historical, social, and cultural contexts are precisely mapped within GenAI applications.
Community Biography as an Identity Anchor and Compass for the Future
Why do we Transylvanian Saxons need this portrait?
Because we must know who we were in order to decide who we want to be.
As a scientifically grounded portrait, it serves the community's
self-assurance. As a community biography, it acts as both an
anchor of identity and a compass: It separates myth
from historical context and interprets ruptures not as loss, but as an
expression of resilience and lived adaptability.
As a bond of sympathy, our shared cultural heritage
connects Transylvanian Saxons scattered across the globe, spanning generations.
By combining tradition with contemporary cutting-edge technology,
this heritage is not only preserved but also made more easily
accessible and sustainably carried into the
future.
Project Roadmap, Contributors, and Outlook
The specific goals of the project, the thematic
areas including the presentation of individual chapters,
and the methodological approach are explained in detail in the
introduction. The structure
can be found in the table of contents.
The content development is in the hands of renowned experts. The following
experts have confirmed their participation so far: Heinz and
Marianne Acker, Hannelore Baier, András F. Balogh, Konrad Gündisch, Gudrun-Liane
Ittu, Stefan Măzgăreanu, Martin Rill, Irmgard Sedler, Ingrid Schiel, and Ulrich
A. Wien. The recruitment of further authors to complete the spectrum of topics
is ongoing.
The project follows the "work in progress" principle: New
content is published digitally, chapter by chapter, in three
languages (German, English, Romanian). The goal is a final
complete edition in book form.
